That's what Google Maps shows today of Port-au-Prince. The white/blue spots are tents. It would be interesting to know ow long ago exactly this satellite photo was taken

It’s been 1 year since a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. I’m sure we all remember the images on TV and the news cover.
I will not talk about the money that was supposed to be invested in helping Haiti or about the hundred, thousands of words of hope and encouragement said, the help promised and never delivered. I will just post a few links to remind ourselves how lucky we are and how much good we could do, we can do.

Some images on this page are not for the light hearted: Médecins Sans Frontières

This is a very informative blog from Michael Deibert, a British journalist.

Some news from UNICEF on the current situation in Haiti and some striking pictures that show how much has not been done in 1 year.

National Maritime Museum - Greenwich, London

If you ever visit London, don’t forget to go to the Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Not only there’s a nice park nearby, and the Royal Observatory too, of course, but the amount of items in the museum is really impressive. Especially when you stumble upon a manuscript copy of the US Declaration of Independence, sent as a letter to the Earl of Sandwich. A sort of “FYI Sir, we’re now independent, haha!”

Throgs Neck Bridge, NYC

It’s Saturday and I woke up incredibly early. I like these moments, when everything is still and calm. Everything except a few birds, of course, which can be annoying occasionally. This morning the crickets in the surrounding fields seem to be more “chatty” than the birds, though.

After watching the news on TV, I decided to look for some short but interesting show to leave on while putting some order in the living room. My brother works in a hotel, he’s in charge of the swimming pool safety team, and I think he starts guessing the waiters and housekeepers at the hotel also work at his house here, haha!

Anyway, I ended up on the History Channel. I really like it. I don’t have a favorite century or historic time, I like a bit of everything, as long as the documentary is well narrated and presented. Some can be extremely boring, but the one I found this morning caught my attention. It was about William Howe and George Washington: the Battle of Bunker Hill & Boston Siege, the Battle of Long Island, the Jamaica Pass, Throgs Neck Bridge, the Battle of Harlem Heights… and how it all ended, with Washington retaking most of the lost territories about two years after Howe’s ‘victory’. (link to the doc) In fact, Howe was pretty good, but didn’t really finish what he had started and eventually Washington & co. won.
Other link on this topic: New York and New Jersey Campaign

I realized I know rather little about the US History. I know more about European history, of course. And I attended French high school, which has a pretty extensive history program compared to other European schools. We also had classes about Asian history, go figure.
I believe the problem is that there is so much to say, so many events, it is truly impossible to cover them all in a secondary education program. That’s why I dig documentaries. They are short and focused on one main topic at the time. Different points of view and comments can also be shown in interviews to scholars or historians, during the film. And the visual media is so much more powerful than a book. I noticed books can be very difficult to read for non-historians. They too often get into too much detail or the writing lacks of appeal to the uninitiated reader. Instead, docs are really interesting and I seem to retain much more info from a documentary than from a book.
Also, this one was narrated by Luigi La Monica (this time I didn’t switch to the original audio, I left the Italian one. Cut me some slack, it was early morning), who has narrated a lot of documentaries, besides having dubbed, among others, Chris Noth in most of his works. I found it ironic, given the documentary was about New York.

Oh… someday I shall write about voices, dubbers (voice-over), narrators etc.
Till then… Happy 4th of July, guys!

*photo: Throgs Neck Bridge on a misty December morning, almost 6 years ago

Link 1

Link 2

It’s a really worth watching film. Very moving. Though I’ve never been to Rwanda, it brought me back to my African years and the madness of the war in Congo/ex-Zaire… Pieces of history too many ignore.

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When The Levees Broke

Astonishing documentary in 4 parts. A must see.